Daily Archives: January 16, 2016

Recognized as a Top Performing Lighthouse Attraction
as Reviewed by Travelers on the World’s Largest Travel Site

NEWBERRY, MICHIGAN – January 16, 2016– Crisp Point Light Historical Society today announced that it has received a TripAdvisor® Certificate of Excellence award. Now in its fifth year, the award celebrates excellence in hospitality and is given only to establishments that consistently achieve great traveler reviews on TripAdvisor. Certificate of Excellence winners include accommodations, eateries and attractions located all over the world that have continually delivered a superior customer experience.

When selecting Certificate of Excellence winners, TripAdvisor uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the honorees that takes into account the quality, quantity and recency of reviews and opinions submitted by travelers on TripAdvisor over a 12-month period as well as business’s tenure and ranking on the Popularity Index on the site. To qualify, a business must maintain an overall TripAdvisor bubble rating of at least four out of five, have a minimum number of reviews and must have been listed on TripAdvisor for at least 12 months.

“Winning the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence is a true source of pride for the entire volunteer team at Crisp Point Light Historical Society and we’d like to thank all of our past visitors who took the time to complete a review on TripAdvisor,” said Cameron Lovett, CPLHS Board of Directors Member. “It just goes to show what a great job our volunteer lighthouse keepers do in making our visitors’ experience something really special. With the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence based on reviews, the accolade is a remarkable vote of confidence in our volunteers and our continued commitment to excellence.”

“TripAdvisor is pleased to honor exceptional hospitality businesses that have received consistent praise and recognition by travelers on the site,” said Marc Charron President, TripAdvisor for Business. “By putting a spotlight on businesses that are focused on delivering great service to customers, TripAdvisor not only helps drive increasing hospitality standards around the world, it also gives businesses both large and small the ability to shine and stand out from the competition.”

About TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor® is the world’s largest travel site*, enabling travelers to plan and book the perfect trip. TripAdvisor offers trusted advice from travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to find the best hotel prices. TripAdvisor branded sites make up the largest travel community in the world, reaching 340 million unique monthly visitors**, and more than 225 million reviews and opinions covering more than 4.9 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. The sites operate in 45 countries worldwide. TripAdvisor also includes TripAdvisor for Business, a dedicated division that provides the tourism industry access to millions of monthly TripAdvisor visitors.

As many of you are aware, it was announced on April 9, 2015 that the Crisp Point Light Historical Society was selected for a Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program (MLAP) grant in the amount of $25,000 to help restore the lighthouse tower. The MLAP grants are administered by the State Historic Preservation Office, Michigan State Housing Development Authority and are funded by sales of the “Save Our Lights” lighthouse preservation license plates. These plates are also available as collector plates if you are from out of state or aren’t going to put them on your vehicle. Contact or visit your local Secretary of State Branch Office or go to the following website for more details: http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1585_1595_9026-23624–,00.html.

As we reported at our Annual Summer Conference in July 2015, we had not received the grant agreement paperwork as of that date. On December 22, 2015, CPLHS received the grant agreement from SHPO. We signed the paperwork and sent it back in to SHPO, who received it on January 4, 2016. Since that time, we have updated the scope of work to be completed and are now preparing bid request documents. Our first quarterly report to SHPO was also completed and sent in by the January 15th deadline. A big thanks to Heather Johnson, Rick Brockway, Richard Neumann, and Cameron Lovett for their work on these tasks. Hopefully if all goes well, the tower will be worked on sometime in 2016.

One of the things that will likely be added to the original scope of work, is added ventilation for the tower. This will help keep the bricks dryer so that when the weather turns cold they will not be as likely to freeze and break apart. Other work items to be completed will be to remove existing paint, replace deteriorated brick, replace mortar joints, replace flashing, and paint exterior tower masonry. Also, CPLHS is responsible for covering all costs of the renovations up front. Only after the project has been completed, and reports and grant requirements met, will the Michigan Lighthouse Assistance Program grant of $25,000 be given to CPLHS to help cover some of the costs.

That being said, we just have enough money to cover the costs of the project as long as it doesn’t go over the high end of our estimate. As many of you may have seen on Facebook or in person, the area around the tower has been the victim of more erosion again, mainly affecting the stability of the boardwalk. Even though we always expect erosion to be something we will have to deal with, the timing of this latest damage really couldn’t come at a worse time. Estimates to beef up the large stone in the affected areas is around $20,000.

11/29/15 Erosion Damage on east side of lighthouse. Photo by Rick Brockway.

We do not charge people to climb to the top of the tower or to visit the grounds, and all money generated for erosion control, maintenance, restoration, and operations comes from donations, memberships to CPLHS, and the sale of fundraiser items. The MLAP grant is the first grant we will have received in quite a few years. If you can make a donation, become a member, or purchase some of our fundraiser items, it is greatly appreciated. The only way we can keep going the way we are going now is if we continue to receive your support.

To find out exactly how you can help out, check out our website at: http://www.crisppointlighthouse.org/how.html. We would like to take this opportunity take thank everyone that have supported Crisp Point in the past. People have really stepped up when we needed them to be generous! However, there is still more work to be done, so please consider helping us out today!